“It hurts! Cousin, please let go…”

The female classmates were stunned. Though Liang Huan’s cousin was beautiful, she was so fierce with Liang Huan. No one at school had ever treated Liang Huan this way – they were certainly seeing something new today.

Liang Huan looked pitiful, and Liu Fen couldn’t understand: “Xiao Lan, what are you doing?”

She must be extremely angry to start a fight in the store. Since Liang Huan wouldn’t speak in front of her classmates, Li Fengmei quickly led the girls out. “Go play outside for a while, we need to handle some family matters.”

Whatever could make Xiao Lan this angry must be serious – last time at the police station, when Ding Aizhen set her up, her niece had stayed calm.

Liu Fang had mentioned marriage arrangements, and Li Fengmei had heard them being rejected several times. From Xiao Lan’s words, had Liu Fang privately arranged a marriage? Li Fengmei found it ridiculous – she’d heard of parents forcing marriages and making decisions, but never an aunt forcing marriage on her niece.

To put it bluntly, they weren’t even relatives of the same surname – how could she control who Xiao Lan married?

After everyone left the store, Liang Huan finally shouted: “You met the Fan family’s maid? Why are you angry with me? You’re going to marry into the Fan family sooner or later, and their maid was worried about not serving you well, so she especially came to ask about your preferences. I was just being kind by bringing her to meet you – what did I do wrong?!”

How could Xiao Lan be so strong? Liang Huan tried several times but couldn’t break free. Her wrist hurt – in all her years, no one had ever treated her like this.

Liu Fen was completely confused.

Marry into which Fan family?

Her daughter was getting married and she, the birth mother, didn’t know? Besides, Xiao Lan was dating Zhou Cheng. Liu Fang had mentioned marriage twice, and Liu Fen had refused both times.

“Huan Huan, tell Second Aunt carefully, who is your cousin supposed to marry?”

After hearing Xiao Lan and Liang Huan’s conversation, Liu Fen guessed that her sister must have privately arranged for Xiao Lan to marry someone. But without hearing Liang Huan’s explanation directly, Liu Fen didn’t want to think so badly of her sister.

“Fan Zhen Chuan, Fan Zhen Chuan from Hedong County! My mom worked so hard to arrange this – why are you acting like this? Cousin marrying into the Fan family means enjoying good fortune and becoming an official’s wife. Fan Zhen Chuan’s rank is even higher than my father’s!”

Xiao Lan sneered. Like mother, like daughter – equally presumptuous.

“If he’s such a good man, why don’t you marry him yourself?”

“He’s so old…”

Liang Huan blurted out, speaking without thinking, then wanted to bite her tongue.

Indeed, with such a high official position, he couldn’t be young! If he were young and promising, why wouldn’t the Liang family have Liang Huan marry him? They were using someone else’s daughter as a bargaining chip, not caring about throwing her into a fire pit while the Liang family enjoyed the benefits – Xiao Lan was such a proud person, how could she accept being treated like merchandise?

“Continue. Besides being old, what other problems does he have?”

Age wasn’t a problem unless the gap was too extreme. Liu Fang was so status-conscious – if he weren’t much older, she would likely have had Liang Huan marry him herself.

Xiao Lan suspected “Fan Zhen Chuan” was an old man.

Liang Huan stayed silent.

Xiao Lan didn’t coddle her – she dragged her by the arm and locked her in the store’s small storage room.

There were no windows, no ventilation, and the light switch was outside. Xiao Lan pushed her in and locked the door. The dark room frightened Liang Huan into wailing.

Liu Fen and Li Fengmei had never seen Xiao Lan so violent.

“Ma Wei, you can leave work early today.”

Ma Wei was too scared to breathe heavily – Xiao Lan had decided to hire her, so of course she listened to Xiao Lan.

“Aunt, let’s close the store for today. It wouldn’t be appropriate for customers to hear Liang Huan’s screaming.”

Xiao Lan was methodical. Li Fengmei anxiously asked: “What’s going on here? Why are you locking her up?”

Xiao Lan controlled her anger. “Do you know why Liang Huan took me outside earlier? A woman claiming to be Fan Zhen Chuan’s woman came to talk nonsense to me, saying that after I marry into the Fan family and take the official position, I shouldn’t make things difficult for her, that she’ll behave and continue being Fan Zhen Chuan’s woman… If not for her, I wouldn’t even know I’m supposed to get married in May!”

May – she had to take the preliminary exam!

How important was the preliminary exam? If she didn’t pass it, she couldn’t take the college entrance exam.

Liang Huan was so presumptuous – Fan Zhen Chuan must have been very powerful in Hedong County. That woman also said the only way to avoid marrying Fan Zhen Chuan was to run far away. Xiao Lan wasn’t afraid of power, but pulling this nonsense right before her exam – how could she not be angry?

Li Fengmei’s mouth gaped open as if hearing an incredible tale.

What kind of marriage prospect was this – not only was the man old but he was also involved in improper relationships.

Women were already coming to find Xiao Lan – Li Fengmei went to close the store without another word. Liu Fen’s mind couldn’t process so much information. Her face showed anxiety, but she didn’t know how to resolve the situation.

Xiao Lan was quite angry, and some of it was misdirected.

Instead of comforting her mother, she went outside to find Liang Huan’s female classmates: “Liang Huan says she’s staying until her parents come to the provincial city to pick her up. You should head back first. By the way, does anyone know Liang Huan’s home phone number?”

Why would Liang Huan stay? Liang Huan herself surely knew her home phone number.

Xiao Lan had been so fierce earlier that none of the girls dared ask if Liang Huan had been beaten. One girl quietly gave the Liang family’s phone number, and Xiao Lan sent them away.

Xiao Lan turned back to enter the store. The once brightly lit “Lan Fenghuang” was now closed in the middle of the day.

“…Liang Huan’s cousin is so fierce.”

“Liang Huan always said at school how much her uncle cared for her, letting her choose clothes from the store freely and giving her red envelopes for New Year’s – it must all be lies.”

“They wouldn’t even discount a sweater.”

The girls who usually flattered Liang Huan showed no loyalty. Seeing Xiao Lan treat Liang Huan roughly, they left her at the store. It was easy to convince themselves – they were relatives, and nothing too bad would happen.

Family matters – why should outsiders interfere?

“Xiao Lan, what should we do?”

When Xiao Lan returned, Liu Fen seemed lost and helpless without direction.

“If I have a falling out with Aunt, who will you help?”

Liu Fen didn’t hesitate on this question: “Of course, I’ll help you… your aunt went too far!”

After repeatedly bringing up the marriage, Liu Fen felt her sister was just being stubborn, refusing to listen despite several rejections. But she hadn’t expected it wasn’t just Liu Fang being persistent – she had ulterior motives.

Between her sister and daughter, Liu Fen would choose her daughter.

If Xiao Lan didn’t hold such importance in her heart, Liu Fen wouldn’t have listened to her and resolutely left the Xia family.

The Xia family had tried to drive Xiao Lan to death, and what Liu Fang was doing wasn’t much better.

Hearing these words, Xiao Lan felt somewhat better.

“Come on, let’s go out for lunch.”

“But Liang Huan…”

“Keep her locked up until she tells us everything she knows. Otherwise, she’ll be sleeping in the store tonight!”